


welcome to the show

by clairelutra (exosolarmoon)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action & Romance, Dork Adrien Agreste, F/M, Heroic Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, amazingly enough, hot mess ladybug, i'm gonna make these tags just fuckin watch me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:25:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9176896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosolarmoon/pseuds/clairelutra
Summary: gravity we're defying'cause we were made for flyingKeeping the pole high, Adrien put himself between the child (who'd been knocked down by the clash and was now sniffling quietly, staring up at the two of them with large, teary eyes) and the akuma, who was clutching its pink-and-white weapon to its pink-and-white chest and snarling."Oh man," he panted, forcing a smile and taunting out of pure habit. "Chat Noir likes kidnappers now? That'sreallyap-paw-ling."He was just Adrien, weak and human andcivilianwith only his wit and a flagpole to protect this kid from a supervillain who'd given every indication that it was hellbent on taking his partner out of the game — who may havealreadytaken his partner out of the game — but there was no way Chat could turn up here, not unless he wanted to blow his identity right out of the stratosphere....Hereallyhoped the akuma hadn't taken Ladybug out of the game.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edendaphne](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=edendaphne).



> [based off this lovely art](http://edendaphne.tumblr.com/post/152987043275/doodle-fest-request-how-about-a-ladrien-make-out)
> 
>  
> 
> //FINGERGUNS// EDENDAPHNE HOPE YOU'VE HAD A LOVELY HOLIDAY, I'M YOUR BACKUP SECRET SANTA  
> YOU'RE AN AMAZING ARTIST AND I ADMIRE YOU A LOT ~~AND THIS WAS SLIGHTLY STRESSFUL BECAUSE OF THAT BUT I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT hgvhjvnbn~~
> 
> THANK [MIRTH](http://mirthaculous.tumblr.com/) FOR EXCELLENT BETA PRAY TO HER FOR ALL UR SENTENCES TO MAKE SENSE (she didn't beta the a/n don't worry)  
> THANK [RUX](http://howdoyousix.tumblr.com/) FOR CHEERFRIENDING AND HELPING WITH FLOW-COHERENCY SHIT GOD BLESS (she didn't beta this a/n either)  
> (goddamn do i need to ask someone to beta these next time)

It figured that the _one day_ Chat had begged out of the signings was the one day an akuma crashed the con.

“All this,” Plagg complained in his ear as Adrien helped direct the panicking crowd. “All this just for a piece of paper someone _scribbled on_.”

Adrien’s own ‘piece of paper’ burned in his pocket, warm with the memory of Ladybug’s fingers brushing his as she handed it to him, so he didn’t comment. Instead he nudged his grumpy kwami back into his shirt and continued to usher the out-of-town con-goers from towards the exit, wincing at the cacophony.

It was amazing how much three years of constant attacks could desensitize a person to surprise supervillains — and how much panic they could instill in someone who _wasn’t_ desensitized.

This supervillain, surprisingly enough, seemed to be a fan of _his._ One who’d been terribly sad and upset that Chat Noir hadn’t been at the con on the one day she’d gotten tickets, and who was now angrily ripping up the venue with her 'Love Ray’ — which Adrien was still kind of confused about, because the rest of her ensemble was very much Ladybug-themed, and Ladybug certainly didn’t have any sort of ray weapon.

(There were a few other things he was confused about, like what on earth had Ladybug _said_ to make one of his fans that jealous — and it was definitely jealousy of Ladybug that had akumatized Lovebug, if the tearful shouts of _give him up, Ladybug, he’s mine!_ were anything to go by.

For that matter, how on earth had _Chat_ inspired that kind of obsessive adoration in anyone? He was under the impression that his media image was that of the dorky sidekick.

This akuma was a puzzle from start to finish.)

Thankfully, confusing or not, Ladybug was doing a good job of keeping the akuma distracted away from the fleeing crowds, both of them engaged in the closest thing either of them could get to a full aerial battle while Adrien helped a costumed boy his age carry an overstuffed swag bag to the gates.

“Mer-merçi,” the boy stuttered in heavily accented French as they passed the decorative statues that marked one of the entrances.

Adrien switched to his own accented English. “No problem. Go that way.” He paused as he pointed, internally scrambling for his particles, and then added, “There are akuma shelters there.”

The boy heaved a massive sigh of relief, sagging under the weight of his cosplay. “Thanks, man.”

Any further commentary was lost under a new wave of screams from inside the gates. Concerned, Adrien left the boy with a pat on his least-armored shoulder and plunged back into the fray.

The screams were apparently caused by Lovebug’s attempts to tear an arch down on the fleeing crowd, which Ladybug was now holding steady while the akuma zipped away to terrorize another group.

Adrien looked up at the dangling arch and winced, wishing for his staff. If he had it, he could prop up the arch or occupy Lovebug while Ladybug put things back in order — or, if he’d had his suit, he could have helped _keep_ things in order so Ladybug would be free to chase the akuma down.

Both were sadly out of his reach right now — transforming in this chaos would only lead to disaster — but he could help in other ways.

It only took ten seconds of hurried instruction to some of the calmer folks (locals, probably) to gather a group of people to support and lower the arch. Ladybug caught his eye as he joined in, flashing him a grateful little smile that made his heart leap.

He risked taking one of his hands away from the twisted metal frame long enough to snap off a salute, flustered delight bubbling in his stomach when she took a moment to _return it_ before she leapt off.

Someone across from him clicked their tongue while he ducked to hide his overheated face, grumbling, “ _Lucky,_ ” just loud enough for him to hear. Adrien resisted the urge to chuckle.

_You have no idea…_

It didn’t take long at all to settle the arch on the ground. By the time it was done, the square was mostly clear, with only a few stragglers beelining for the gates. Both hero and akuma were nowhere to be seen.

 _Right,_ thought Adrien, looking around as the helpers dispersed, _now to find a place to— whose kid is that?_

It was hard to tell with little kids, but Adrien was pretty sure the girl couldn’t have been more than six. She was huddling at the edge of the square and looking around with the most heartbreakingly worried look he’d ever seen.

He was moving before he thought about it, following the wall (he didn’t want to get caught out in the open when the battle came back around) in a power walk that was half-run, not wanting to scare the girl but moving quick in his own worry.

He’d barely cleared half the distance when Lovebug appeared over the far side of the square, a sliver of baby pink against the clear blue sky approaching at high speed.

Adrien broke into a run.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the akuma land in the middle of the abandoned square. It had been divested of its ray gun, and was holding its yo-yo like a throwing stone, looking around for a new advantage.

Adrien could _sense_ the moment it spotted the child, and swore his heart stopped.

One frantic scan revealed an abandoned flagpole in his path. Adrien barely stopped to scoop it up before he was breaking into a full sprint, holding the bare end over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

He got there just in time.

The yo-yo was thrown to capture, not harm, but he still managed to track it well enough to hit it like a ball. The shock travelled up his unprotected arms to the shoulder as the weapon whirled back to its owner.

Keeping the pole high, Adrien put himself between the child (who’d been knocked down by the clash and was now sniffling quietly, staring up at the two of them with large, teary eyes) and the akuma, who was clutching its pink-and-white weapon to its pink-and-white chest and snarling.

“Oh man,” he panted, forcing a smile and taunting out of pure habit. “Chat Noir likes kidnappers now? That’s _really_ ap- _paw_ -ling.”

He was just Adrien, weak and human and _civilian_ with only his wit and a flagpole to protect this kid from a supervillain who’d given every indication that it was hellbent on taking his partner out of the game — who may have _already_ taken his partner out of the game — but there was no way Chat could turn up here, not unless he wanted to blow his identity right out of the stratosphere.

…He _really_ hoped the akuma hadn’t taken Ladybug out of the game.

Lovebug curled its lip at him. “And who are _you_ supposed to be, wannabe?”

Adrien, dressed in his everyday clothes, let the tip of the flagpole dip in spite of himself. “Are you really taking shots about fashion at a _con?”_

This, oddly, seemed to infuriate it. It wound back its throw with a twitching motion and snapped, “Who cares about clothes, _copycat?”_ before firing it off.

Adrien had the time to realize, _oh oops, it was the cat puns,_ before he was tangling the yo-yo with his flagpole and engaging in a game of tug of war with a magically enhanced fangirl.

…It was, perhaps, not the best decision he’d ever made.

“Are you saying you _don’t_ judge a cat by its fur?” he said, ignoring the pesky little voice of his self-preservation. It was a lot louder when he wasn’t transformed. “Be-claws that what it sounds like you’re doing to me. I could _totally_ be that kitten you’re smitten with, for all _mew_ know.”

 _Right,_ said the voice of self-preservation, which sometimes sounded like Ladybug and sometimes like Nathalie, but usually just sounded like Plagg. _Because **antagonizing** the magically enhanced fangirl sounds like a better idea._

Even so, the spasm that crossed the akuma’s face was _incredibly_ satisfying — like a very small, very contained detonation of _pure rage._

_“You little—!!”_

Yyyep, Adrien was still dead.

“Adrien?!”

—or not?

Adrien looked up.

Ladybug was perched on one of the gates, yo-yo held at the ready and a very strange look on her face as she stared at the tableau.

Adrien, dressed in just his blue jeans and t-shirt and playing tug of war with a magically enhanced fangirl to protect a small child, had nothing to say for himself. It was only a small comfort that the akuma, who was on a jealous rampage over a certified bumbling dork who was very publicly in love with someone else and playing tug of war with a civilian over a child, probably didn’t have much to say for itself either.

The child, the only truly blameless one there, lit up at the sight of the heroine.

“Ladybug!” she squeaked, incidentally giving voice to Adrien’s _exact_ reaction whenever he saw said heroine.

His own (voiced), “Ladybug,” was both far more reserved and far more relieved, but given that he’d already embarrassed himself pretty hard asking for her autograph earlier, he figured he was entitled to a little dignity.

Lovebug looked rather like it wished _nobody_ had any dignity. “…Ladybug.”

“Hey, Ladybug!” said the little girl, who had perked right up at her arrival and was now hiding behind Adrien’s leg. “Where’s Chat?”

“Yeah, Ladybug,” Lovebug mocked bitterly, glove creaking around its yo-yo line. “Where’s Chat?”

Ladybug’s gaze flitted from the young child’s look of expectant hopefulness to the akuma’s look of condensed hatred and landed on Adrien most-definitely-not-Chat-Noir Agreste, who was holding a metal pole and pretending to be a hero like an _idiot._

Ladybug then smiled uncomfortably and said, “Well, I’m not really sure, but don’t worry. I can take care of this.”

(The fanboy in Adrien squealed.

Ladybug was just _really cool,_ okay?)

The akuma, shockingly, was not of the same opinion. It detangled its weapon from Adrien’s makeshift staff, murder in its eyes.

Jumping to the ground behind it, Ladybug dropped into a battle pose. She caught Adrien’s eye over the villain’s shoulder and mouthed _run!_

Adrien didn’t need to be told twice.

Dropping down on one knee, he scooped an arm under the little girl, hoisted her onto his hip, and took off running.

It was much, much easier to get to the gate than it had been before; with Lovebug distracted and Love-Ray-less, and no shifting, fleeing crowds, the path was clear.

But carrying a child as he ran was more of a drag than Adrien had thought it would be, in the most literal sense. Levering buses and carrying large stone statues as Chat had been far easier than this. His thighs burned, ankles straining under the weight, and he was completely out of breath by the time he delivered her to the gate. He set the girl down and was barely able to usher her through before he had to stagger back, hands on his knees.

Gasping, Adrien turned, intending to do one more sweep of the makeshift fighting ring to make sure nobody had accidentally been left behind. But just as he did, the decorative gate statues — seven-meter-tall crying angels — tilted behind him, silently enough to be unnoticed until they collapsed in an ear-splitting crash.

Adrien yelped, ducked, and covered, waiting until bits of cement shrapnel stopped stinging his back before he surveyed the damage with trepidation.

His way out was completely blocked.

Lovebug had somehow toppled the statues one on top of the other. If Adrien wanted to get out, he’d have to spend a worrying amount of time helpless and exposed as he crawled over them.

Which wasn’t too bad, actually — he didn’t need to exit through the gate. All he needed to do was avoid the akuma for long enough to find a nook and transform.

That was easy enough, right?

 _Wrong,_ said the magically indestructible string winding tight around his middle.

Adrien was knocked clean off his feet.

What happened next was a confusing clatter of snapshots: Lovebug’s scrapbook hole-punch eyes glittering as it held him off the ground by his shirt collar, Ladybug’s wordless noise of fury, the ancient wad of gum stuck to the cracks of the cobblestone he landed on, 'Bug and 'Bug locked in something that may have been battle, but could also have been especially furious interpretive dance…

Adrien rolled, head spinning (vertigo was among the things Plagg protected him from, apparently), and managed to get his feet under him, intent on making his getaway.

Building 14 looked like a good place — big, already a little banged up, had a back door he could say Chat made it in through — and Adrien managed to actually take a few steps before getting arrested again.

Lovebug didn’t even have the grace to announce its presence; it just wrapped its hands around his neck and used him as a meat shield.

Scrabbling at its grip, Adrien choked, the world greying in the corners of his eyes and pressure building in the base of his skull, very much not in any nook where he could safely transform.

He pried his heavy eyelids open just in time to catch Ladybug’s furious snarl as she dodged around him, and then he was free, on his knees on the ground rubbing his burning throat and trying to blink the stars out of his eyes, unsure if he dared to get up and run again.

When he finally looked up, his decision was made: Ladybug was now also on the ground, trussed up with Lovebug murmuring to her as it reached for her earrings.

One split second of tunnelling vision and white-hot panic, and Adrien decided that the nook could wait.

His lady needed him _now_.

Body-slamming Lovebug was kind of startling because he hadn’t realized he’d started to move until he was already there. But then Ladybug was tumbling out of her binds and grabbing his arm, hissing at him to stay behind her, and Adrien rolled with it as best he could.

Fighting without Plagg’s help wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t have any alternative. Gripping the flagpole in both hands, he widened his stance and settled in for the long haul.

Just Adrien would have to do.

* * *

To his utter surprise, Just-Adrien, armed with only a flagpole and his wit, actually _did_ do.

It was hard — punishingly so, he’d never had more appreciation for what Plagg did for him — but he _did it_. He kept his lady safe. He kept _Ladybug_ safe, and even managed to be a help instead of a hindrance. For all the times he’d needed saving, more than once during that battle he’d saved her life in turn.

It was a funny realization to come to, and an intense satisfaction.

He felt like he’d proved himself worthy somehow.

Adrien watched the white butterfly escape into the sunset and sighed explosively, bracing his hands on his knees and shaking as the adrenaline started to fade.

His entire body _hurt_ from head to toe, a mixture of bruises and scrapes and overexertion. He’d sweated through his shirt, too-soft materials turned cloyingly clingy on his back and stomach, his hairline and forehead itchy with the strands of hair plastered to his skin. He felt both too hot and too cold, the itch under his skin as well as on top of it, and…

He felt _good_.

He’d helped.

Adrien Agreste had _helped._

Even without his powers, even without his mask, Adrien Agreste had still helped.

He dragged a hand through his hair, unsticking it from his sweaty forehead, contemplating sitting down for a bit before he had to go face the music with Gorilla, and looked up to find Ladybug just… staring at him.

Staring at him with a very strange look on her face, yo-yo forgotten in her hand and the de-akumatized fan regaining her feet behind her.

“…What?” he asked when the odd look in her eye and her blank stare finally got to him.

(Didn’t they need to be looking after the victim right now…?)

Ladybug twitched like he’d startled her out of a trance. Her hand raised like she wanted to rub the back of her neck, but she gave up halfway there, still staring at him wide-eyed. “…Thank… thank you.”

Adrien actually did rub the back of his head, fingers slipping on the sweat, and felt his face heat a bit more. “Oh, uh, no problem.”

“You were… uh…” Ladybug trailed off, fidgeting with her yo-yo. Her voice dropped and a shy little grin flitted across her face. “You were really cool.”

…Had Adrien said he was hot _and_ cold? Sorry, that was a mistake; he was just hot — flushed glowing red with embarrassed pleasure from his scalp to his belly.

Ladybug said he was _cool_.

The fanboy in Adrien was on the verge of a dead faint.

“Me? O-oh, I… Uh.” He squeezed the back of his neck, feeling the skin under his fingers burn, and found that he couldn’t look at her at all. “I mean, you’re _way_ cooler.”

Ladybug was _still looking at him,_ and he managed to glance up in time to see her eyes flash.

Adrien’s mouth went bone dry.

“Cooler than you… hot stuff?”

Adrien sort of registered that she’d cocked her head and winked and flashed him a dorky smile that would’ve given him heart failure on a regular day, but he was mostly busy feeling every single one of his mental processes coming to a screeching, crashing, clattering halt.

_Holy shit._

Her _voice._

(Thick and purring and… and… He didn’t have words for what it sounded like, except that his hormones were pretty happy to paint all sorts of other scenarios where she might sound like that.)

He swallowed enough saliva back into his mouth to answer, “Of course. No—no one is cooler than you,” and then was right back to square one, panting and trembling and much, _much_ too hot.

At least he couldn’t feel the burn in his legs any more. He couldn’t really feel them at all.

“I don’t know…” Ladybug murmured, leaning into him. Her eyes flicked down to his mouth, tracking his tongue when it ran across his lips. “I think you could give me a run for it.”

…Holy _shit._

_Hello, you have reached the residence of Adrien Agreste. I’m not able to take your call at the moment; would you like to leave a message?_

Yes, Ladybug wanted to leave a message — but she didn’t bother with a tidy little request summary with her number tacked on at the end, no.

She just caught him by the back of his neck and crashed her mouth into his.

Adrien made a strangled noise of not-protest and leaned into it, fire racing up his spine and pins-and-needles prickling his limbs, mind stuck in a broken feedback loop of _holy shit holy shit Ladybug holy shit that’s Ladybug holy **shit**._

It was Ladybug’s thumb digging into his cheek as she kept him right where she wanted him, and it was Ladybug who kissed him with bruising force as he sluggishly responded. It was Ladybug’s breath stuttering against his cheek and Ladybug’s lips sliding between his own. It was Ladybug who was sighing something high and breathy and heated, Ladybug who hummed, and Ladybug who was taking every bit of Adrien and turning him inside out.

And then her earrings beeped.

As suddenly as she’d kissed him, she ripped herself away, dark eyes huge and lips flushed bright red. She did a double take as soon as she focused in on him, clamping her mouth shut and swallowing visibly.

…Adrien kind of wanted to know what _he_ looked like, to make her look like _that._

“A-a-a-anyway,” she rasped, gaze firmly fixed on his mouth as she staggered back. “Thanks for your help, Ah-Adrien. I couldn’t—” She gulped. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Adrien, jaw somewhere in the vicinity of his knees, managed to nod.

“Right!” said Ladybug, staggering less and stumbling more. “I will. Go. Because… Because I gotta.” She waved at her ears.

Adrien nodded again.

Ladybug flailed for a few more seconds and then squeaked, “Bye!” and fled.

Adrien waited until she was out of sight to drop to his knees.

…Holy _shit._

Behind him, the akuma’s victim groaned.

“You too?” the girl snapped. “She’s not all that!”

And then she actually looked at him, and groaned again. “Why does no one _listen_ to me.”

Adrien didn’t have much of an answer for her, sadly; his ears were still ringing, and he was finding it pretty hard to think around the excited heat in his lips.

The girl gave up in disgust, getting up and wandering back into the con crowd that was slowly returning through the seams of the square.

Plagg took this as a signal that it was safe to poke his head out.

“…If you keep yammering on about how you got her _autograph_ after _this_ , I’m gonna judge you so hard.”

Adrien tried to say _Haha, very funny,_ and produced an incomprehensible croak instead.

Holy _shit_.


End file.
